


it's trivial (pursuit)

by elisela



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24830110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisela/pseuds/elisela
Summary: Eddie stretches his legs out underneath the table, stopping when they bump against Buck’s, settling them together. “Ready to kill it?”“You know it,” Buck says, tipping his beer bottle to clink against Eddie’s. “Chim’s gonna be sorry he ever invited us to trivia.”
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Firehouse 118 Crew, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 45
Kudos: 854
Collections: Eddie Diaz Week 2020





	it's trivial (pursuit)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kitkat0723](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkat0723/gifts).



> Eddie Diaz Week Day 6: We Are Family.
> 
> For KitKat0723, who had this prompt in the first place and kindly let me write it.

Eddie stretches his legs out underneath the table, stopping when they bump against Buck’s, settling them together. “Ready to kill it?” 

“You know it,” Buck says, tipping his beer bottle to clink against Eddie’s. “Chim’s gonna be sorry he ever invited us to trivia.”

They're the first ones at the bar; it’s a new one for them, a cozy place with television screens affixed to every wall, tables in place of booths, low lighting and a pool table in the back corner. Eddie had tried to convince Buck to play a game when they had come in but Buck had been single-minded in his focus to find the best two tables to shove together for their group. Eddie had watched, amused, while Buck placed a hand on the corner of every table and pushed until he found two adjacent ones that were deemed steady enough. 

Maddie and Chim arrive at the same time their food does, and the first thing Chim does—after stealing one of the cheesiest chips, piled high with pico de gallo, the asshole—is tell them they have to move. “We’re playing couples,” he says through a mouthful of food, already reaching for more, clearly ignoring the fact that Buck and Eddie aren’t a couple, “you have to sit next to each other so no one overhears your answers.”

After a bit of shuffling, Buck’s sprawled out next to him, pushing the plate and his glass of water at Maddie, who had been looking at them longingly. “I’ll order us another,” he says soothingly to Eddie, clearly noticing the brief pout that Eddie hadn’t been able to keep off his face. He’s _hungry_ , they’ve been working all day, and he was really looking forward to those nachos. “Without the olives this time.”

Eddie’s mind is still stuck on _we’re playing couples_ and the easy way everyone assigns them to that roll, the way he doesn’t even blink when it happens, the way Buck’s mouth lifts into a smile when someone puts them together like that. They’re not even fooling themselves anymore, not with Buck’s arm stretched out on the back of Eddie’s chair, not with the way Eddie hooked his ankle over Buck’s when he moved to sit next to him, not with the way they both shift so their knees are resting together. They should play as a couple—maybe they _would_ , if Eddie could somehow get Buck to realize that he needed to be the one to make the first move, that Eddie had tried several times and was apparently incapable of taking that step, but would jump in without a second’s hesitation if Buck would be the one to push. 

By the time the trivia host is introducing the rules, everyone is settled at the table, plates of food scattered after being passed around several times, drinks replenished. Buck passes Eddie the tablet he’d gotten up to retrieve when signing them up as a team, warm fingers brushing against his arm as he holds it out. 

Eddie’s always loved team game nights, and this is no exception. Trivia is new, but teaming up with Buck to kick ass is definitely not, and though he misses Christopher’s presence, it’s nice to have a night where no one is worried about leaving to get kids in bed at a decent hour, moderating their volume or language, or trying to keep teasing child-friendly. 

Besides that, Eddie’s reasonably certain they’re going to win. Who better to have on your team than Buck when the goal is to know as much random information as possible? He’s pretty sure that Bobby and Athena are the only ones who stand a chance at beating them. 

When the first question pops up, Eddie realizes that they’ve both made a huge mistake. _Name Kim K’s four children,_ the screen says, and Buck stares at it before he whispers, loudly, “Eddie, who’s Kim?”

Across from them, Chim chokes back a laugh. 

After five questions, it’s clear that Eddie and Buck aren’t the only ones struggling—Athena is grumbling audibly after a question about a tiger king, and Hen has been muttering under her breath to Karen the whole time. In fact, the only ones not having any issues at all are Chim and Maddie, who are grinning gleefully by the time the game is over and clutching their second place prize, a $25 gift card to the bar.

“Pretty sure you played us,” Hen says, reaching over the table and trying to snatch the card out of his hand. 

Chim holds it out of her reach, only to have Athena grab it. “I don’t appreciate being deceived,” she says, handing the card to Bobby. “I think it’s only fair you use this to cover some of our bill.”

“The link I sent was very clear about this being a reality television show trivia night,” Chim protests, though he makes no move to get the card back. 

“You know we don’t look at the links, Chim, we just show up when you tell us to,” Eddie says. He nudges Buck’s shoulder with his. “Besides, the rest of us are a little too busy raising kids to sit around on the couch watching that trash, man. You’ll see, once the baby comes. Say goodbye to your free time.”

“The rest of you, maybe, but Buckaroo has no such excuse,” Chim says; his tone is teasing, but with Buck pressed right up against him, Eddie can feel the way his shoulders sag. The teasing doesn’t always bother him—he can usually brush it off, shoot back a sarcastic comment, or tease right back—but sometimes Eddie notices that Buck will shrink in on himself, become self-deprecating and quiet down for awhile before he manages to shake it.

“Buck’s picked Chris up from school three times this week,” Eddie says before anyone else can comment, “which means he’s also made us dinner three times, and you know Chris doesn’t let him leave until he’s after he’s gone to bed. And you should probably start sucking up to him now because by the time your kid hits a year old you’re going to be begging Buck to come give you a break.”

Chim raises an eyebrow. “Are you telling us you beg, Eddie?”

“Buck never makes me beg,” Eddie says, realizing too late how that sounds to a group of mostly-tipsy adults. Buck flat out giggles beside him, his elbow on the table, resting his head in one hand as his shoulders shake. He turns his head towards Eddie and grins, and Eddie feels himself start to smile despite the burn he feels spreading across his cheeks.

“Too much information,” Maddie says, but she’s smiling at him. “I think this is our cue to leave.” Once she’s up, everyone else stands as well, gathering their things and settling their tabs up at the bar, using Chim and Maddie’s winnings to pay for the appetizers Bobby had ordered for them all to share. One by one they leave, and after Karen has hugged them both goodbye, Buck and Eddie are alone again.

Buck hands his card to the bartender and pays for both of them before Eddie has a chance to offer, and hops up on an empty stool while they wait. It’s early still, coming up on nine, and Eddie feels too restless to spend the rest of the night pretending to watch a movie while he tries to talk himself out of plastering his body against Buck’s and refusing to budge until Buck accepts the inevitable. It’s too late, now that Buck’s signing the bill, to suggest another drink or try for the game of pool that he’d turned down earlier, but they’re not far from the beach and about a dozen tourist attractions that are good for a laugh if not much else. 

“I’m not feeling like heading home yet,” Buck says, tossing the pen onto the bar and sliding off the stool, “wanna walk around and find something to do?”

“Read my mind, man,” Eddie says, clapping him on the back. He lets his hand linger, presses his fingers against Buck’s soft shirt and rubs absentmindedly, wonders how Buck would react if he kept his hand there longer or slid it down to rest on his lower back. He’s always a little looser when he’s been drinking, a little more free with the affection he desperately wants to give; he knows Buck assumes he doesn’t drink much because of Christopher, and he’s never dissuaded him of that, but the truth is that once Eddie’s had a few drinks, he can’t remember why he’s keeping so many secrets.

He wonders if they’re really still secrets, anyway, or if he even wants to hold them on his own anymore.

He follows Buck out to the parking lot and they turn, in sync, towards the brightly lit signs of the boardwalk in the distance. After a moment, Buck sighs. “Sorry I wasn’t much help tonight.”

Eddie snorts, shaking his head and nudging his shoulder into Buck’s. “Buck, Hen was right—we got played. Chim knows it, too, he never said a word about it being reality TV. You think any of us would have gone for it if we knew? Would you have?”

“No,” Buck says, but Eddie can still hear the unhappiness in his tone, and after a moment he adds, “it’s just—I thought it would be my kinda thing, you know? I have a good memory for this stuff, and—”

“And?” Eddie prompts, when it’s obvious Buck doesn’t want to continue. He looks over at him; the embarrassed set of Buck’s jaw makes him want to kill Chim, all the sudden. 

“It just would have been nice to win,” Buck says. “We never win.”

Eddie hums in response, nodding. It would have been nice, because Buck is right—they’ve never won a single game at game night. Buck’s pretty good at Pictionary, but Eddie’s a hopeless artist, and Buck spends half their time staring at the paper in confusion. They’ll never beat Chim at anything movie-related, Athena kicks everyone’s ass at guessing games, and Hen and Karen have never lost a game of Risk. He’s always had a good time regardless, and it had never occurred to him that winning mattered to Buck. Thinking back, he can see Buck’s excitement over this trivia night from another angle—he’d been bouncing around all day, regaling Eddie and anyone else who would listen with random facts, and Eddie can see now that Buck had been so excited because he thought they finally had a shot. 

“We’ll win next time,” Eddie says, even though he knows they probably won’t. Buck looking so downtrodden has always made his heart stutter irrationally against his burning chest, has always made him a little impulsive. 

Buck stops walking and turns towards him. “Doesn’t it bother you? Always losing?”

“Not as long as I’m with you,” he says, remembering too late to filter his thoughts before he speaks. He feels himself flush, thankful that the harsh glare of the neon signs in the distance do nothing to illuminate his face. But Buck only smiles brilliantly, and Eddie forgets that he should be embarrassed by his lack of discretion when he’s the one responsible for that kind of happiness. 

Buck sways into his space for a moment before pulling back. “I thought maybe you’d get tired of being stuck with me eventually,” he says. “I didn’t realize—”

Eddie waits for him to continue, but Buck doesn’t say anything else, just holds his gaze. “I’d never get tired of being your partner,” he says, and then, because that’s a little too close to the truth, he adds, “there’s no one else I’d rather get my ass kicked with.”

Buck blinks, like he was expecting to hear something else, and for a second Eddie could swear that Buck’s gaze drops to his lips and that he leans forward just a bit, but then Buck laughs and the moment is broken. “Maybe we should choose the game next time,” he suggests, tugging Eddie along with a hand wrapped around his bicep as they start walking again. “What are we really good at?”

“I don’t think anyone is going to want to do anything physical,” Eddie says, and Buck’s grip around his arm tightens before letting go. Again, he realizes too late how it sounds, and he should clarify but—he’s still just tipsy enough not to, just enough that maybe he can—

“Maybe we should just try for Monopoly or something,” Buck suggests; there’s a faint bit of repressed laughter in his voice, like he’s fighting with himself to keep whatever he’s thinking to himself. 

Eddie wishes he wouldn’t, wishes they could just get this out in the open already, but he follows Buck’s lead. “Too much luck involved,” he says. “We’ll find something.” 

It would have taken Eddie weeks of planning and trading favors to get the whole team to an actual trivia night, which he’s willing—and still intending—to do, but he doesn’t want to wait that long to cheer Buck up, and he knows they all have a day off together coming up at the end of the month. It’s easy enough to get everybody to agree; he mentions a more general game of trivia to Hen and Bobby, knowing they’ll take the invitation if only to get back at Chim, and he tells Maddie he reserved the back room at her favorite bar, the only one in town that both makes garlic parmesan wings the way she likes them and has what she deems as acceptable ranch dressing to dip them in.

If he spends every moment of downtime for three shifts researching the best trivia games, that’s not something anyone needs to know.

Buck is remarkably more subdued when game night finally rolls around again; they’re off a twenty-four hour shift at eight in the morning so Eddie’s not surprised when he goes home to nap, but he is a little surprised when he doesn’t hear from Buck again until just before they’re supposed to meet up to make sure he has the right bar. 

“I thought you said this place had trivia,” Chim says as soon as Eddie walks into the room. 

He slides into the chair Buck pulls out for him and places the game—still in its shrink wrap so there’s no way he can be accused of cheating—on the table. “I didn’t say they _had_ trivia, I said we were _playing_ trivia,” he answers, looking around the table. “Anyone have a menu?”

“Buck already ordered for you,” Maddie says, grinning as she gestured to the food in front of them. “He wouldn’t stop talking about how much you two loved the crab dip last time.”

He can see Buck’s cheeks start to turn pink out of the corner of his eye. “It was really good crab dip,” Buck says, a little defensively. “And that wasn’t all I ordered—I figured you probably skipped lunch and wouldn’t mind, it gets pretty busy, I didn’t want you to have to wait.”

Eddie tries not to let his face betray too many of his emotions and likely fails, given the way Chim snorts across the table. “I appreciate it,” he says to Buck, completely unable to keep the smile off his face. “They’re just jealous no one cares about them like that.”

“Right,” Maddie says, reaching over and stealing a carrot from the plate of wings that Buck had pushed in front of him. “That’s true. Chim, I expect you to get here twenty minutes early next time to order me food.”

“Of course,” Chim says. “That’s what you do for someone you love.”

Buck shifts in his seat, clearly displeased with how the conversation is going. Eddie bites his tongue before he says something he regrets; he always expects a certain amount of teasing from the team during game nights, but it’s not usually so blatant. It makes him wonder what the conversation had been like before he’d arrived, if this is what they consider subtle.

He turns the conversation towards their upcoming weekend plans, dragging his chair a few inches closer to Buck’s and letting his thighs fall open so their knees press together, trying to show him it’s okay, that it’s not bothering him. Maddie starts talking about decorating the nursery and is setting out paint cards when the others arrive; after they’re done inspecting the colors, Buck leans over and points to one, resting his hand on Eddie’s thigh briefly when he leans back against his seat. His fingers skate over the inside seam of Eddie’s jeans, and Eddie’s pretty sure he doesn’t hide his sharp intake of breath well enough from the way the corner of Buck’s mouth lifts into a grin.

Finally, once everyone has eaten and a new round of drinks is served, Eddie opens the game and reads the rules while Bobby writes their names on the chalkboard attached to the wall. It’s unanimously decided that Chim and Maddie can go last to make up for Chim’s previous trivia deception, and soon enough they’re drawing cards and starting. By the time Buck and Eddie are halfway to the fifty points they need to win, the only ones who are close are Bobby and Athena, who are still seven points behind, Chim and Maddie have dropped out after their seventh missed question, Hen and Karen have drunk enough to giggle at every question, and Buck is looking more and more cheerful with every card drawn.

Maddie—now the official question reader—pulls a card and looks up at Eddie. “What did the United States purchase from Russia in 1867, for a reported 7.2 million dollars?”

Eddie doesn’t even begin to have a clue. He’s been able to answer some movies and sports questions—and one about a national park—but for anything else, he’s pretty useless. Buck’s leaning towards him though, and whispering in his ear. “Eddie, who was president then?”

He shrugs, turning to look at Buck; his face is so close and he has to pull back a little to be able to talk to him. “That’s just after the Civil War, right? So—” he frowns, trying to remember the president's song Chris had listened to when he was memorizing the presidential order. “Johnson? Maybe Grant.”

Buck straightens up and grins at Maddie. “Alaska.”

She nods over at Chim, who had offered himself up as scorekeeper. He looks impressed as he makes another tally under their column, adding to their lead. 

“Okay,” Hen sighs, “I get the space questions, and we all know you’re obsessed with natural disasters, but how the hell did you know that?”

“I read a book about the presidents when Chris was learning about them in school last year,” Buck says, picking up his empty glass and frowning at it before reaching for Eddie’s and taking a drink.

“Damn, Buck,” Karen says, shaking her head. “Next time, it’s you and me kid, okay? Just let me know how I can steal you away from Eddie.”

“Not happening,” Eddie says, leaning towards her and narrowing his eyes playfully. “This one is mine.”

They keep going—at one point, Bobby and Athena have a lucky streak and answer seven right in a row, but Eddie’s pleased to see that he and Buck maintain a five point lead the entire time. 

By the time they’re a point away and up next, Buck’s bouncing in his seat, his hand back on Eddie’s thigh, tapping anxiously, and Eddie’s thrown his arm around Buck’s shoulders. 

Maddie holds up the card and looks at Buck, raising an eyebrow. “You sure you’re ready?”

“Just read it,” Buck says. Eddie’s pretty sure he’s about to vibrate right out of his seat. 

“For the game—and all the marbles—what’s the smallest country in the world?”

Eddie leans over and uses the opportunity to get much closer than he normally would to whisper right in Buck’s ear. “Monte Carlo, right?”

“Eddie,” Buck practically gasps, “you’re _Catholic_.”

He pulls back, frowning. “The Church might disagree with you, considering how long it’s been since I stepped foot into one, but what does that have to do with anything?”

Buck squeezes his thigh. “It’s Vatican City, Eds,” he says, shaking his head with a smile. “Besides, you’re thinking of Monaco anyway, Monte Carlo is a city.” He turns towards Maddie and repeats his answer, beaming when she nods and motions for Chim to give them the point. 

The look on Buck’s face when Chim declares them the winner and the table erupts into cheers is worth every bit of time he spent putting this together, but there’s still one thing Eddie had told himself he’d do, and he finds that he’s a little more subdued than normal as everyone packs up and says goodbye.

Buck’s leaning back on the back legs of his chair when Eddie sits back down after hugging Karen goodbye, watching him. “Thought you’d be happier,” he says, his head tilted as he looks at Eddie.

Eddie shifts around so he’s facing Buck, sitting sideways on his chair, and goes for broke. “Just a little nervous about something I told myself I’d do after we won,” he admits. He clasps his hands in front of him so he doesn’t fidget and leans forward slightly.

Buck waggles his eyebrows and Eddie can’t help the huff of laughter that makes its way past his lips. “Yeah? You finally gonna admit that I’m smarter than you?”

“Oh, I think we all already knew that,” Eddie says. “Actually—” in his hesitation, Buck settles his chair back on the floor and leans forward, lets his arm take up residences on the back of Eddie’s chair. “I was going to kiss you, if that’s something you’d be okay with.”

The smile that spreads across Buck’s face is slow and soft at the edges. “I think you know it is,” he says quietly, just inches from Eddie’s face.

It’s surprisingly less terrifying than he thought it would be to meet Buck halfway and kiss him, to settle his hand on the back of Buck’s neck as his lips parted gently, to pull back just a little and breathe with him before kissing him again and again and again.

“Would have tried harder to win earlier if I knew this was my prize,” Buck murmurs against his lips, moving one hand to Eddie’s knee and sliding it up to his thigh.

“Worth the wait, I hope,” Eddie says, and leans in to kiss him again.

**Author's Note:**

> yell with me on tumblr @ [hearteyesforbuck](https://hearteyesforbuck.tumblr.com).


End file.
